Resident Evil: Extinction

Resident Evil: Extinction was officially announced by Sony Screen Gems on June 13, 2005, a few months after Apocalypse's release in North America. The producers also openly discussed the possibility of following this sequel with a fourth film. This was later confirmed in the official plot synopsis as revealed by ComingSoon.

Contents

The film had been planned out to some extent when Anderson wrote his original draft to the 2002 Resident Evil film; this idea featured Alice and Matt driving into a collapsed New York after surviving the global outbreak from the Raccoon City Hospital. The White Queen also appeared in this script as a counterpart to the Red Queen in another facility. These elements were removed so that Resident Evil: Apocalypse could fill in the gap.

When the film was greenlit after Apocalypse' release, Anderson imagined Alice driving through a desolate, desert landscape. This idea was brought about from watching Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior with Milla Jovovich's brother, who was too young to know of it. With the market becoming inundated with Zombie Horror films with titles like 28 Days Later, an homage to Mad Max made it one of the more original films. Early scripts also included a dog companion to Alice, as "Dog" was to Max in The Road Warrior.

The film was originally intended to be filmed in the Australian Outback but was changed to Mexico, in Mexico City and Mexico's Baja California. This region was also used for some Tatooine scenes in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. The decision for the film to be set in the daytime came from Mulcahy, who disapproved of a post-apocalyptic film set predominately at night. It took some time to convince Jeremy Bolt it could work.

Mexicali was used for exterior scenes for its desert environment. A small section of the Las Vegas Strip was built for the cast to walk around; the rest of the city was a miniature model which could be digitally added into scenes. Due to the scheduling for the release date, the film had to be filmed in the sweltering heat. At one point, Director Russel Mulcahy had to be taken to hospital due to heat exhaustion. Rattlesnakes would frequently be found outside the motel set, and had to be taken away in buckets before each shoot.

The interior scenes of the movie were filmed in a sound studio in Mexico City.

Whereas the first two films used Dobermans (the same individual dogs, in fact), it was decided that the undead dogs should instead be played by Belgian Malinois instead to keep them original. They were chosen primarily because their obedience and aggression made them intimidating animals for the KLKB gang to use. Unlike the first two films, the dogs were made 'undead' with special effects, Anderson knowing from the first two films that dogs tend to eat makeup.

Four real crows were used in the film alongside CGI birds, the latter which would be in the background. Research was done on crow flight patterns to work out a path for the CGI crows to fly in. According to Anderson in the film's commentary, the real crows could be easily trained to land and peck on "dead" people's heads when liver - their natural food - was hidden in the hair.

For the Undead makeup, there were three varieties: "Desert Undead"; "Super Undead" and an open-jawed variety. The Desert Undead makeup was designed to give a more worn, rotten look than the makeup used in the first two films, to capture the length of time these Undead have been so. Due to make-up restrictions in the "Desert Undead", extras could not open their mouths without the risk of damage to the prosthesis. The open-jawed variety were for unique Undead that the film required an open-mouth shot of. An example is the "State Trooper Zombie" which attacks L.J. Wayne in the motel.

On November 7, 2005, Davis Film, Constantin Film and Screen Gems announced their distribution rights worldwide. The film's title was also later changed from Resident Evil: Afterlife to Resident Evil: Extinction with the film's director Russell Mulcahy signing on. Principal photography began in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico in May, 2006 (after being pushed back from November 5 > March 6 > April 6 > May 6) and entered Post-production in late July 2006.